Tuesday, August 07, 2007

"Girlfriends"

Why do women refer to their friends as "girlfriends"? To men, that term has very specific meaning: a man's girlfriend is strictly of a romantic nature. Even now, every time I hear a woman say "One of my girlfriends did blah blah blah...", I immediately, instinctively begin to wonder to myself whether said woman "swings that way". What's wrong with just saying "friend"? I naturally assume that most friends of most women tend to be -- well, women. And if there's any doubt, pronouns will tell me everything I need to know. STOP THE INEFFICIENCY, LADIES!!!

5 Comments:

J to the D said...

I agree: this "girlfriend" thing is quite confusing, especially in light of the increased social acceptance of same-sex relationships among women. Conversely, I wouldn't refer to you as my "boyfriend"...well, except for that one time...oops.

Female sexuality has historically been more fuzzy than men's. Homoeroticism was not uncommon among Victorian women. Today's female undergrads frequently experiment with lesbianism. If someone is telling you she has a "girlfriend", I'd believe her.

Chris clearly lives in a fantasy world where girl-on-girl makeout sessions are always lurking only slightly below the surface of apparent reality.

My wife resents every friend I've ever had who happens to have two X chromosomes. I've learned to live (in fear) with that fact. In a way, it's flattering, as that implies that she thinks all other women must find me attractive and are therefore only using friendship as a pretense and prelude to romantic entanglement. It's also funny, because... well, if you've seen me, that's just funny.